Cardiff Dragons 5 – 4 London Falcons

On a pitch that was more suited to mud wrestling than football the game got underway. The Dragons seemed to adapt to the conditions the easier and its was not long before Lucas Owen opened the scoring for the Dragons – a goal that will go down in the history of the Dragons as the first ever goal! 1-0 after three minutes. It was not long before it was 2-0, Paul Searle scoring on this occassion after some good pressure from South Wales’s finest.

The Falcons started to get back into the game with some fine runs down the wings. The Londoners got a lucky break, a very dubious penalty was awarded for handball inside the penalty box, The resultant spot kick was successful 2-1 now to the Dragons. Within 5 minutes we made it 3-1 after a long kick by Dave Amos (sorry lads & lasses I had to get in on the action), Paul Searle grabbed his second with a fiercely hit long range shot.

At this point the Dragons were well on top with Anthony Read and Aris da Silva making some excellent runs down both wings. Just before half time Matt Jones scored a spectacular goal from 25 yards – what a scorcher!! Going into the break at 4-1 things were looking very good.

The second half kicked off and the Dragons seemed to carrying on from where they left off, da Silva making it 5-1 within 5 minutes of the restart with a great effort from distance. It seemed all plain sailing at this point.

The tide stared to turn about 10 minutes into the second half. The Falcons started to dominate the midfield which was starting to put pressure on the Dragons defence which was being marshalled expertly by club captain Muzz Harvey. The pressure told after a few near misses, the Falcons scoring to bring it back to 5-2. With the Dragons now tiring as the game wore on the Falcons got their third goal after a dubious decision that saw appeals for handball turned down.

With 10 minutes remaining and still more pressure from the Falcons they made it 5-4. The Falcons threw every thing at the Dragons in the last 10 minutes but the defence held solid for a famous first ever win in our first ever game.